German and French patent documents DE 198 03 445, FR 2 520 467, DE 295 13 597 and DE 297 20 053 disclose comparable sealing arrangements which are intended to seal the gap between on the one hand a closing element, which can be moved relatively to an opening in a motor vehicle, and on the other hand the inner-side edge region of the opening which faces said dosing element. They generally consist of a holding portion, which is adapted for attachment either to the inner edge region of the opening or to the outer-side edge region of the closing element, and of a sealing profile which is integrally formed on said holding portion and which in the closed state of the closing element lies in a sealing manner under resilient deformation against the respective opposite-lying edge region. This type of sealing arrangement surrounds the entire opening. An essential feature of these known sealing arrangements is that the edge structures of the opening or of the closing element which cooperate with the holding portions must comprise a special adaptation to suit the respective holding portion, in particular with regard to its secure attachment. This adaptation can be a circumferential flange, on to which the holding portion is placed, in a sequence of bores, with which a positive-locking, push-button-like connection is established, or said adaptation can be special mold elements which are intended for positive, resilient latching engagement.
A sealing arrangement is known from German Patent Publication DE 199 12 176, wherein a profile part which is substantially L-shaped in cross-section and comprises an embedded reinforcement is adhered to a door frame by means of an adhesive layer. The profile part is supported beyond the adhesive layer on the door frame by cross-pieces. Instead of using the adhesive layer, the profile part can also be held on the frame by clip connections which can be produced by crimping (column 2, lines 61 to 64). This profile part is to be connected to the door frame initially by a robot. In a second working step which is to be conducted preferably by hand, a profile seal is then placed with an attachment base on to an upstanding assembly limb of the profile part having a Christmas-tree profile. The profile seal is not connected on the inside to the L-shaped profile part. During operation, this can lead to visually unfavorable gaps and progressions of the profile seal. The same applies to the further embodiments of known sealing arrangements set forth above.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,119,325 discloses a sealing arrangement, in which a grip rail consisting of a plastics material is used for the attachment of a sealing profile to a door frame and comprises on its side facing the sealing profile two latching regions which are disposed transversely with respect to its longitudinal extension at a mutual spaced Interval and which are intended for resilient latching engagement with the holding region of the sealing profile. The holding region forms a generally T-shaped latching base which is inserted into a groove which is formed in a complementary manner with the cooperation of a U-shaped locking part. The grip rail is intended for attachment on to the edge region of the door of a container and is provided with holding flanges which engage laterally around said door and which form a sealing abutment on the door. For its part the sealing profile is characterized by two sealing lips which lie against the inner side edge region of the opening, so that even when the door is in the closed state there Is a visually perceptible progression of the sealing arrangement which is characterized by the fact that the grip rail and the profile part are positioned next to each other. By virtue of the fact that a particular U-shaped locking part is required to form a T-shaped groove, this produces in mechanical terms a relatively complicated attachment of the sealing profile to the grip rail. In dependence upon the material formation of these parts, this can also give rise to disadvantages for the endurance of sealing effect.
Finally, European Patent Publication EP 0 479 643 discloses a generic sealing arrangement for sealing a gap between two cooperating components. This sealing arrangement Is intended for sealing a gap between two cooperating components and is characterized inter alia in that it can be fixed to one of the components by way of a grip rail or a base plate, wherein a holding region of a sealing profile can be positively latched to the grip rail, wherein a sealing region of the sealing profile which cooperates in a sealing manner with the other one of the components is attached to the holding region, wherein the grip rail comprises two mutually spaced apart latching regions, each of which can be latched to a complementary counter latching region of the holding region, wherein the first and second latching regions are provided on longitudinal edges of the grip rail and wherein both latching regions extend along an inner longitudinal edge of the latching base. The base plate consists of a material according to a type of hot-melt adhesive which can be adhered by heating to a support e.g. a portion of the vehicle bodywork. Both latching regions are formed by means of a T-shaped profile which is integrally formed on the base plate and which is located in central region of the base plate. This sealing arrangement Is thus characterized by merely one central, relatively narrow mounting and attachment region.